2024-08-05 11:44:40
Visitors to the festival in South Bohemia’s Slavonice became the first viewers of Jan Hřebejk’s new film this Saturday. The comedy about a radio reporter was rewarded with bursts of laughter, repeated applause during the screening and applause at the end.
The movie State of Emergency will start showing in theaters on October 17. Photo: Jakub R. Špůr / Bio Illusion | Video: Falcon
People completely filled the Slavonic cultural house. Many have become convinced that the quotes from the conversational comedy entitled State of Emergency will be accepted by the public, similar to the way quotes from Hřebejk’s film Pelíška once became popular.
The main themes of the film, which opens in theaters on October 17, are misinformation, lies and the deliberate manipulation of the truth. Karel Beran, a radio reporter in the Middle East, played by Ondřej Vetchý, flies privately to Prague for a tour. However, at the same time, a revolution breaks out in the fictitious Kambur, which he unprofessionally left, and the flights back are cancelled.
In order to live up to his duties as a reporter, the experienced professional begins making mystifying reports. He simulates the uproar of the Arab revolution on kitchen appliances in his Vinohrady apartment and pretends to be at the scene of the conflict.
The scenario was written by the author of the theater performance of the same name, journalist Milan Tesař, the music was composed by Dušan Neuwerth. “I always wanted to make a pure comedy, the kind where someone opens a door and closes a door, and I’m glad that it came true,” says Jan Hřebejk.
State of Emergency is his first film to hit theaters since 2017’s Gardening trilogy. The creator personally attended the Saturday premiere.
Jan Hřebejk attended Saturday’s premiere in Slavonice. | Photo: Libor Fojtík
“I didn’t miss it. I wanted to see it, a little too carefully. It was pleasant, very nice, because festival audiences are always kinder, more accommodating and in a good mood, so people were laughing the whole time,” praises the director. “The text and performances of not only Ondřej Vetchý and Tatiana Dyková are at times so captivating,” he believes.
In addition to these two popular Czech actors, Jordan Haj, Jaroslav Plesl, Bořek Slezáček, Jaroslava Pokorná, Jana Plodková, children of actors and colleagues of Hřebejk’s team and Sylvie Maryško Koblížková, known as Uzlinka z Pelíšková, also appear in the film. The crew filmed for two weeks in an architecturally interesting Prague apartment or in the environment of Czech Radio.
“I think the exaggeration is big enough for people to know that it doesn’t work like that,” Hřebejk thinks. “We cannot do without public media,” he emphasizes.
“He knows five languages, but he doesn’t know a microwave from a tank,” says Tatiana Dyková in one key scene. That’s what Hřebejk is catching. “It’s getting harder and harder to recognize something credible in the flood of half-truths and obvious lies. Many times you don’t realize how close you are to jumping on something stupid,” comments the director on this account.
The story was first seen by the audience of Prague’s Theater Na Fidlovačce, where the play State of Emergency by Milan Tesara premiered in January 2019. It was directed by Tomáš Svoboda. The production is no longer on the program, but the recording can nevertheless be viewed in the paid Dramox video library.
The 57-year-old Hřebejk directed over 20 feature films, many television works, theater productions, documentaries and commercials. His most popular movie Beds was seen in cinemas by over a million viewers, and it is still one of the most visited after 1989. The titles Pupendo, Horem pádem, Sakalí leta, Nestyma, Medvídek, We have to help, Beauty in trouble or Teacher were also successful.
Lately, Hřebejk has mostly worked for television. In addition to the award-winning mini-series Rédl and the TV movie Veterán, which was released shortly before the pandemic, he filmed the crime series The Case for the Exorcist, Live Targets and Boží młyny, as well as the college-based comedy drama Background Events.
Most recently, Jan Hřebejk created the Slovak Iveta about the journey from the Roma ghetto and Vítěz about a prime minister who finds it difficult to return to everyday life from politics.
Video: Alcohol scores points in the film. Home drinking is all around us, says the film journalist
“Showing a movie in the cinema in the summer? I thought it was absolute nonsense,” comments journalist Petr Cífka on the success of the film Diary of an Alcoholic in Domestic Complexes. | Video: Team Spotlight